1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a bayonet type coupling for mounting a firearm accessory adapter upon a gun barrel characterized by its ability to quickly mount and remove the adapter, and yet produce a positive effective mechanical lock of the adapter on the gun barrel.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is often desirable to mount an accessory such as a flash suppressor, silencer, grenade launcher, blank adapter, or the like, upon the end of gun barrels. Such accessories are usually mounted upon an adapter which constitutes a coupling for attaching the accessory to the gun barrel. This invention particularly pertains to gun barrels having one or more radially extending lugs formed on the barrel axially spaced from the barrel end. Such lugs are commonly found upon several makes of automatic firearms, such as submachine guns.
It is known to utilize firearm accessory adapters which include an opening receiving the end of the gun barrel and lugs wherein the adapter includes lug retaining recesses which align with and retain the lugs upon relative rotation of the adapter and the gun barrel occurring after the adapter has been fully axially positioned upon the gun barrel. Adapters of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,893,426 and 5,433,133 wherein the lugs are retained within the lug receiving recesses formed in the adapter by a threaded lock member.
The use of a threaded lock member to maintain the lugs within the adapter lug retaining recesses requires several steps of operation to mount the adapter on the gun barrel, cannot easily be accomplished with one hand, and the possibility of the adapter loosening on the barrel exists in the event the threaded lug locking member unloosens due to vibration occurring during firearm operation.